By Ranjona Banerji
What do you want me to tell you? The same old thing? That the bulk of the Indian media has remained shameless, lily-livered, BJP/Modi/government mouthpieces? You know all that. Maybe you are part of that mainstream swamp that cannot or will not get back to journalism?
Or do you want to hear how, with all the terrible things that have happened this year, insidiously, non-journalistic BJP enterprises like OpIndia.Com have been legitimised and now pose as part of the mainstream media? That legitimization like this will only further discredit an already discredited mainstream media?
That fact-check organisations, which are now a necessary adjunct to a non-fact checking media, have worked overtime all year as usual to overturn propaganda – from multiple political parties and sources – and reveal the facts to the public? That they are no longer a novelty but an essential service? That the media’s own fact-checking abilities are so mediocre that most of the mainstream also depends on these independent sites?
That the media has forgotten its basic tenets once again? And not just its basic tenets, it has forgotten just about everything that happened all year as it carries on demonising the farmers’ protests because of order from up above?
That India’s commentators are a lost tragic lot, stuck in a time warp as they wander around the 1970s looking for parallels which no one today understands?
That the media continues the destruction of India’s democratic values because it feels that survival depends on falling into the RSS’s Goebbelsian propaganda trap?
That the terrible Covid-19 effects on the media, that of economic collapse, has not led to any wisdom as many optimists feel that adversity teaches us? That instead of hunkering down to do a better job, spread the word further and look after its own, the mainstream media has cut back, inflicted huge job losses and retreated behind paywalls and “chillar” ways to make “chindi” money?
That a media which sacks and shuts down with impunity cannot possibly be expected to feel the pain of millions of Indians, affected by both Covid19, the economic collapse before the pandemic and the economic destruction post-pandemic?
That the roller-coaster of horror stories through 2020 have been forgotten by most of the media, giving a lie to the whole cliche of 2020 vision. CAA protests? Only to vilify Muslims. Migrant workers? Only to vilify the poor. Election results? Only to vilify non-BJP parties. And so on.
And the pandemic? Where does one start? Almost nothing has gone right and yet we saw only sections of the media telling us what was what virus-wise, in gory, unforgiving detail. The rest parroted government lies without question. In the name, presumably, of “objectivity” but go back to the first para about cowardice. There you have it!
And so to the end and the ongoing Farmers’ Protests. Every popular most-watched news channel and newspaper has put Rafael Nadal’s racquet to shame. Spin. Spin. Spin. Vilify. Vilify. Vilify. Obeisance. Obeisance. Obeisance. Every obnoxious charge thrown by the government was dutifully amplified. All protesting farmers were terrorists. All were misled. Opposition politicians were politicking. All win top points in the propaganda stakes.
Is this what you wanted to hear? Well, you got it.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal